Healing Diseases With Snake Venom - Zoltan Takacs

Snakes, spiders and scorpions are often reviled as dangerous, scary creatures. But National Geographic Explorer and head of the World Toxin Bank Zoltan Takacs sees the possibility in their poisons. Takacs explains to Boyd that the CARPET viper is the leading cause of snake deaths in Africa, but it's also used as a popular anticoagulant that helps those who suffer heart attacks recover in hospitals. Other venoms treat rheumatoid arthritis. Takacs' experience with venom is hard earned: he caught his first snake when he was four; he tells the story of the first time he performed emergency "surgery" on a friend who was bitten by a venomous snake.